Bound In Blood
by Nightingalewoman
Summary: Kain meets a girl named Talia, who has no idea who or what he is. A bond is formed that may prove to be deadly to her later on... Kain/OC, please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Bound In Blood

Kain was tired. He had been traveling for days, seeking the Oracle - Ariel had suggested he ask the Oracle about finding Malek, the legendary paladin. He didn't think he was too far away now - at least he _hoped _he wasn't. At present, he was cutting through a small meadow on his way to the Termogent forest.

Something in the grass caught his eye. A bright green among the expanse of tan weeds. The object moved. A person. A woman? No - a child. Perhaps five or six years old, sitting in the grass, her back to him. His mouth began to water as the smell of a living human drifted towards him. Still, he usually ignored children. Not enough sustenance - and not much of a challenge.

Curiosity steered him closer towards her. He was silent as a cat in the grass, but his shadow, cast by the evening sun low in the sky, fell across her path. She turned around.

Looking up, she saw a man standing behind her. She thought it might be her father, then realized it wasn't. He was much taller, and much stronger looking. He had long silver hair, though his face didn't appear elderly. He was strangely pale.

"Hello," she said nonchalantly. She was cherubically adorable, with medium brown hair cut to frame her heart-shaped face, and large green eyes.

The tiniest hint of a smirk appeared on Kain's lips. He was mildly amused that she hadn't run screaming at the sight of him.

"Aren't you afraid of me?" he asked her.

The girl looked at him, her expression suggesting that she thought he was mildly retarded. "No," she answered in a slightly bewildered tone. She turned back around, becoming reoccupied with some small toys in front of her.

"Why are you out here alone?" Kain questioned.

"Mama always lets me come play here in the afternoon," she answered simply.

Kain scoffed. "Your mama sounds like a fool. This is no land for a little girl to be by herself in. There are...monsters out there, that could eat you up, you know."

The girl turned back around and peered up at him, grimacing. "I can take care of myself!" she announced defiantly, and then went back to her toys again.

Kain laughed silently to himself. Oh, such innocent arrogance. Would that he could be like that again. He was becoming rather amused by this child's unaffected reaction to his presence, when so many others shrank in terror before him.

She turned around again to look at him. "What's your name?" she inquired.

He offered a small, tight-lipped grin. _I suppose there's no harm in telling her. _"My name is Kain," he replied.

"Kain," she repeated, looking thoughtful. "Rhymes with...rain, brain..."

_...Pain, _Kain thought bemusedly.

"...My name's Talia," she offered. "Do you want to play dollies?"

Kain's brow furrowed. "Play...dollies?" he repeated bewilderdly.

"Yes. This is Annalise and this is Gemma." Talia grabbed two of the toys in front of her, both small rag dolls with yarn hair and saccharin smiles stitched onto their cloth faces. "You can play Gemma. They're going to the market." she thrust the brown-haired doll into Kain's hands.

He held the grubby thing gingerly with his thumb and forefinger. "Ughhhh..." he began. For the first time in a long time he was truly at a loss for words. He tried to formulate a way out of this. He wanted no part in playing dollies.

Talia frowned at him. "You're not very good at this," she observed. As Kain opened his mouth to offer an excuse out, a woman's voice came calling over the trees. "Talia! Dinnertime!"

Talia turned towards the voice. "Just a few more minutes, mama!" This was Kain's way out. He silently shifted into mist form.

"No Talia, now!" the voice insisted. The girl sighed exasperatedly. "O-kaaaaay!" she yelled back. Kain's transparent form drifted away through the grass and into the dark forest beyond.

Talia turned back around. "I gotta go, maybe later-" she began, and then stopped. The man was gone. Gemma was lying on the ground, smiling up at the sky. Talia looked around. There was no sign of him. Where had he gone?

Slightly annoyed and a little sad that her new friend was gone, Talia grumbled a little as she made her way back to the house.

Chapter 2 coming soon!


	2. Chapter 2

Time passes, this is one sure thing. Another sure thing is change. Kain had seen considerable changes in the world he knew within just the past twenty years. The time had seemed like barely a week. When you are undead, time holds little meaning.

Kain had proclaimed himself ruler of the vampires of Nosgoth. Some bowed to him. Many still didn't. Him and his small but loyal following were seeking out those who would deny their king, and helping them see the error of their ways. The terms were simple. Bow to him, or die.

Kain was hunting alone tonight. Sometimes he still craved solitude - plus he didn't always care to share the spoils. His bat form flitted over a small town. One house caught his eye - a glow from within, very faint. He came in for a landing and arrived just behind the little house, his form rippling and growing back into his vampiric body.

He slipped around the front of the house. One of the boards on the window was loose, and light escaped from behind it. He shifted to mist form and filtered through the opening.

Inside, he saw that the glow emanated from an oil lamp at a bedside table, forgotten to be extinguished, apparently, as the only person in the tiny house was asleep in the bed beside it. A young woman, her dark hair strewn messily over the pillow, fast asleep.

Kain became solid again and approached the bedside. Oh, she smelled good. She appeared to be in her mid-20's. The perfect age. "Ripe," he sometimes called it. He decided he would play with his food a little before getting down to business. It heats up the blood so nicely, and it was a chilly night out there.

In one swift movement, he grasped her shoulders and yanked her upright, leaping onto the bed behind her and pulling her roughly back against him, one hand clamped over her mouth. She awoke instantly, of course. Her eyes flew wide open. Terrified and confused, she struggled but could not move. She realized with dread that someone was holding her down. Fear washed over her in a cold sheet. The smell - she smelled something vaguely like the sickly sweet smell of death - but also earth, and something musky, distinctly male. So, this stranger was going to have his way with her. Tears came to her eyes, her heart sinking. Then, a new fear struck her when she felt hot breath and two sharp points scrape against the side of her neck - fangs...

The stranger wrenched her around to face him. A blur. She saw a gaping mouth, flashing teeth. Heard a hiss that chilled her to the bone. Then in the lamplight she saw his face. His face! Was she dreaming?

"It- it's you!" she cried breathlessly, gasping.

Kain snarled at her. What was this silly woman going on about? Perhaps she hadn't quite woken up yet. He would fix that. He roughly grabbed a handful of her hair and wrenched her head back.

"KAIN!" she screamed in pain.

Shock. He released her suddenly and stepped back. She collapsed on her hands and knees, panting. He stood angrily before her.

"How," he demanded, "do you know my name, woman?"

She panted more for a moment, catching her breath. "You - I saw you. When I - was a little girl...thought maybe I...had imagined it... But here...you are..." she gasped.

Kain thought she was mad for a moment, but then he finally got a good look at her face. Heart-shaped, with big green eyes; her hair, brown. Then he remembered. A summer day. A little girl in a green dress, and her dolls.

"...Yes... I do remember you," Kain said incredulously. "The girl."

The woman slowly and painfully rose to her feet. "Yes..."

"Yes..." Kain recalled. They stood there, staring at each other for several moments.

"Well," the woman finally spoke up quietly, "I suppose you're going to kill me."

Kain frowned. "No...perhaps not. Yet." he said. He examined her for several seconds. The past twenty years had been kind to her. Her hair was no longer cropped short; now it flowed long and sleek past her shoulders. Her lips were full and expressive, and her somewhat flimsy nightclothes revealed her womanly shape. Although a vampire, Kain was still a man, and she was easy on the eyes."Talia... Wasn't it? You've...grown up well."

Surprised at this comment, Talia blushed and looked away. Kain crossed his arms and stood there, staring at her still. She cast a sidelong glance at him. He still looked the same as he did when she had first met him. Tall, powerful and unyielding. His face still bore the same stern expression it had had back then.

"So you now realize what I am," he stated to her.

"Yes," she replied. She stared at his chest, unsure of she should look into his eyes.

"You were unafraid then. Are you now?" he asked.

She fidgeted. "Yes...and no." she finally answered.

Like twenty years ago, he was intrigued by this. He stepped forward and grabbed her upper arms, leaned in close, and bared his fangs to her in a sneer. She stiffened but did not resist. "Why? Why are you unafraid?"

"I...I don't know." she whispered after a moment's thought, her eyes downcast.

He released one of her arms, and tilted her chin up with his fingers- almost gently - to force her to look him in the eye.

"Why?" he asked again, softly.

She stared into his eyes wordlessly. They were yellow. She had never seen yellow eyes before. She closed her eyes and shook her head a little.

He released her and stepped back. "I will allow you to live for now, girl," he announced. He turned towards the window

"I... Wait!" Talia exclaimed.

He turned back, looking at her quizzically.

"Will you come again?" she asked.

He stared at her dumbfounded. No one had ever, ever, expressed a desire to see him again, let alone the first time.

"Again?" he exclaimed, surprise in his voice. "You WANT me to return?"

Talia swallowed hard and nodded. She wondered for a moment if she had lost her mind. But there was something about him that made her want to know more about him.

His stern expression deepened. For some reason he found himself wanting to comply - and it angered him. "If I return, know that I may not hold back from making a meal of you," he warned.

"I...know." Talia answered.

He scowled at her, briefly considering devouring her there and then, but it was a fleeting thought. "Perhaps, we shall meet again...and perhaps not," he said. Then before her shocked eyes, his form slowly dissolved into a grey mist. It lingered a moment before slipping back out through the crack in the window.

Chapter 3 coming soon!


	3. Chapter 3

The next night, Talia kept looking out the window. It was a normal night, slightly windy and cool. No sign of Kain. Bedtime came and she crawled under the covers with trepidation. She was scared at the prospect of being jolted awake like the previous night. Maybe he would just drain her this time. She fell asleep agonizing over it. But the next morning she awoke, still alive, unharmed, with no sign of any visitors. Kain had not come. She felt relief... and disappointment.

Days passed. Then a couple weeks. No unexpected visits. She was surprised at how much she found herself thinking about him, particularly on a rainy day out in her field. She distracted herself from the monotony of threshing wheat by reminiscing of the first time they had met, smiling to herself now at how fearless she had been then.

She finished and bundled her haul, then headed into her little house to begin cooking supper. She entered and closed the door, then walked right into a barrier. She jumped, and stared into a pale face, a wicked grin. It was him.

Despite her scare, she smiled. "You came."

"Do not be so quick to celebrate," he snapped. "I came to talk."

She sat down at the small kitchen table and he followed suit, sitting opposite her. "About?" she asked.

"About what I am." he said. "You now know I am a vampire. And I require human blood for sustenance."

"Yes, I know. I've heard many stories-" Talia began.

"Faugh! Stories, indeed." Kain spat. "If you wish this to remain a civil meeting, please do not tell me any of your ridiculous fables."

Talia was a bit taken aback, but nodded in compliance.

Kain continued. "You will not desire my company once you have heard what I will tell you. I have killed countless people. Men and women, young and old, some guilty, but many innocent. And I cared not for their pitiful pleadings. All I ever cared for was their blood."

Talia looked at the table, blinking, a somber expression on her face.

"Do you not hate me now? This monster before you?"

Talia opened her mouth slightly, then closed it again. She didn't know how to respond.

Kain leaned back and crossed his arms. "You should also know that I am leading a clan of vampires. We shall make this land safe for no one. One day, we will be herding your people like cattle, for no other purpose than for our consumption."

Talia got up and walked over to the window, looking out at the full moon in the sky. She said nothing. Kain sat silently, watching her. She stood unmoving. He listened for the sounds of weeping, waited for her to start pleading. But she simply kept staring out at the moon. It infuriated him. He stood up, shoving his chair back, and stalked over to the window. He seized her by the shoulders, turning her to face him.

"You insolent girl!" he yelled. "If you had a brain in your head, you would be pleading for mercy right now!"

Talia's expression darkened. "Why do you seem to be trying to draw certain responses out of me? I am not one for playing games. If I will die anyway, then why don't you just kill me now?" she yelled back.

Kain snarled, hurling her across the room and onto the bed. She landed hard, the wind knocked out of her. Kain flew over, landing on top of her. He roared terrifyingly, his mouth opening wide, his ivory fangs bared. She squeezed her eyes shut. _This is it. I hope it doesn't hurt too much. _She thought.

Her eyes flew open again in surprise when Kain's mouth clamped down over her own. His tongue invaded her mouth, slithering against her own tongue. "Mrrph!" she blurted, flabbergasted. Kain growled against her lips and she fell silent.

His mouth left hers and traveled down her neck. She braced herself, waiting for the piercing sting of fangs. She felt his tongue again, this time licking along the side of her neck, up to her ear and back down. She gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut again. Why didn't he just get it over with already? One of his strong hands reached up and tangled itself in her hair. The other wrapped around her back and pressed her body tight against his own.

It wasn't until his mouth returned to hers and he began to kiss her in earnest that she began to think that maybe his intention was not to kill her - at least not at this moment. Despite her fear, his current actions were incredibly arousing and she found her breath quickening. She tentatively returned his kiss, and he responded by gripping her body tighter against his, signifying that this was indeed what he wanted. He kissed her a moment longer before pulling back, releasing her and standing up, leaving her exhausted and panting on the bed, looking up at him in confusion.

"Cherish that memory, as it was the last pleasure you shall experience," Kain growled, just before shifting into bat form and swooping out of the window and away into the night.

Chapter 4 coming soon...


End file.
